Liberals apologize to Speaker for partisan post that sparked calls to resign

The Liberal party apologized to Speaker Greg Fergus Tuesday for using partisan language to advertise his event, after the Opposition Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois called for his resignation.

The opposition parties called it yet another display of partisan behaviour from the Speaker of the House of Commons.

The latest accusation stems from a post on the Liberal party website promoting a summer barbecue event featuring Fergus, who is a Liberal MP.

The event details included a political attack on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, saying his “reckless policies” would risk the health, safety and pocketbooks of Canadians.

“The promotional material of this event uses very partisan, inflammatory language concerning the Conservative party and the leader of the official opposition,” said Alberta Conservative MP Chris Warkentin in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

The language in the event details was automatically included based on a template for events posted to the website, said Liberal spokesman Parker Lund.

He said a miscommunication between the party and Fergus’s riding association led to the wrong text being put on the event’s details.

A spokesman for Fergus said that the Speaker’s team did not approve the text and that the riding association did not know the event was going to be posted on the party’s website.

The Speaker’s office provided a copy of the original information for the event, which did not include any partisan language.

The more-partisan version has been taken down from the Liberal party’s website.

“It has simply become impossible to make any distinction now between Speaker Greg Fergus and Liberal Greg Fergus,” Warkentin wrote in a letter to the Speaker, asking him to resign.

“Every ruling you give now — and,